Those just happening on the recent Healing Waters day at Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park Beach may have thought they’d fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole or stepped through a portal to the 1960s.
There, on the beach operated by Lake Metroparks, was a group of tent-like structures, with brightly exotic fabrics billowing in the lake breeze. Beneath them were assorted colorfully attired, tattooed, beringed men and women, young and old, setting up a massage table, pot luck dishes and assorted other things.
Nearby on the sand, at the edge of the gently lapping wavelets, another group sat cross-legged in a circle, softly chanting with eyes closed.
Later there would be kids doing yoga, meditation, a fire ceremony and a drum circle, with both drums and hula hoops handed out to passersby joining in.
It was the fourth annual Healing Waters Beach Day Blesstival, hosted by Fairport Dance Academy’s Branches of Wellness, a yoga/reiki studio at 411 High St. in Fairport Harbor.
“I always wanted to bring wellness arts into the community,” said Erin Hill, who a few years ago founded Branches of Wellness.
She and her staff members have been doing just that this summer, initiating people of all ages and fitness levels into their practices aimed at wellness.
They’ve gone to the Thursday Painesville Farmers Market, where they’ve done yoga demonstrations and invited folks to join them. They’ve taken yoga, reiki and massage to area senior centers and brought kids classes to scout groups and latchkey programs at area schools.
And on Aug. 21 they’ll bring a drum circle to the free concert the community action group Discover Fairport Harbor hosts each Thursday evening on the town’s Lighthouse Hill. It will be the grand finale for the successful summer-long series.
“It’s a natural amphitheater, so it’s a perfect space for a concert,” said Raeanne Hess, one of the event’s organizers. “We’ll also have members of the competition team from Fairport Dance Academy dancing some things choreographed by Erin.
“She’s really brilliant but never promotes herself.”
Hess, whose four children attend classes at Branches of Wellness, said all of them have learned reiki and practice it.
“Erin has had a profound impact on them and many other children,” she said.
Hill, whose mother Cheryl Hill operates the Fairport Dance Academy, grew up dancing and competing in dance events.
She discovered yoga about a decade ago after she’d been diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by flares and remissions. There is no cure for lupus.
“I quickly discovered that stress triggered my flares, so I began studying yoga and soon added reiki to my life,” she recalled. “After five years lupus was no longer an issue. I had no more pain, and it didn’t even show up in my blood.”
She’d gotten her degree in wildlife biology and worked in that field until being diagnosed. That’s when Hill, now 31, began dedicating her time to learning to heal herself.
“I learned that autoimmune diseases like lupus really respond to yoga and reiki,” she said. “Those with fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, liver disorders and even diabetes have seen the same great results I did.”
Her scientific mind believes it’s the reduction of stress and learning to breathe that oxygenates the blood and reduces the toxins causing inflammation, which is a proven contributor to many diseases.
“Studies show that bodies under stress produce cortisol and those levels drop significantly with yoga and reiki,” she said.
Hill gives a number of classes each week at Branches of Wellness but also continues instructing dance at Fairport Dance Academy. She has several full-time employees, all with different specialties.
Yoga instructor and reiki practitioner Michelle Gonzalez quit her job as a restaurant manager and came to work full-time for Hill after studying the practice of yoga with Hill two years ago.
“I fell in love with the physical and spiritual aspects of yoga,” she said. “It became a place I needed to be for healing.”
She also draws on her training in yoga and reiki to teach employee wellness classes for Cleveland Clinic employees.
“Reiki is a hands-on modality that allows the body to relax and heal itself,” she explained.
Hill’s philosophy about first having compassion for yourself is what Gonzalez said first drew her to Branches of Wellness.
“We want people to know that yoga isn’t some pretzel-bending skinny sport, but is for everyone,” she said. “We took our yoga demonstrations to Painesville’s Farmers Market with the thought that people buy fresh produce because they want to stay healthy.”
Public sessions, including the Beach Day Blesstival, are free with a “love donation” accepted. Other classes have a fee.
Those giving the classes are trained to work with everyone — even those who have issues preventing them from doing many of the poses. Kathy Howell of Mentor, who attends Wednesday-evening classes at Branches of Wellness, confirms that’s so.
“I recently had a hip replacement, but yoga has helped me immensely in my rehabilitation,” she said. “They really work with anyone’s limitations.”
A circle of people sitting beneath a canopy and drumming came just before sunset at the recent Beach Day Blesstival.
“It’s neat to see how the rhythms shift as people contribute,” said Hill, who took a seat and joined in the drumming as the sun sunk lower in the sky. “We also had the energy of a full moon that day.”
She said many people find the vibrations and rhythms of a drum circle to be relaxing. She explained that chanting while doing yoga is likewise relaxing and helps attract peace into one’s life.
“Chanting in yoga is done in kirtan,” she said. “The idea is the vibration and intonation of words shift our own vibrations to attract certain things.”